Investigating the Impact of Electric Vehicles Demand on the Distribution Network

Abstract

Deployment of Electric Vehicles (EV) is increasing in recent years due to economic and environmental advantages compared with fossil fuel-based vehicles. As the market of EVs grows, new challenges to the electric grid are emerging to accommodate the EVs demand, especially in the distribution networks. In this paper, we investigate the impact of EVs deployment on the electricity demand and distributed network. We propose a model to generate EV demand profiles that consider the EV users’ driving pattern such as daily energy consumption and charging schedule, in addition to the EV’s charging characteristics. The EV demand model uses data we obtained from a survey to evaluate the model’s parameters. We use the EV demand model to simulate and evaluate the impact of EVs demand on the distribution network. We present a case study with an actual model for a distribution network to evaluate the impact of EVs on the distribution network in Saudi Arabia. We analyze the simulation results and show how EVs impact the demand and the distribution network performance.